Fibrous sheeting and process of preparing the same



Sept. 14, 1937. J. H. GAY E.- AL 2,092,966

FIBROUS SHEEI'ING AND PROCESS OF PREPARING THE SAME Filed Nbv. 22, 1934 [ma/10m 417/ Willi mow upper l 6 s aZ/z oce F1 6 b 934 WW 1 3 lower Patented Sept. 14, 1937 FIBROUS SHEETING AND PROCESS OF PBE- PA RING THE SAME Joseph H. Gay, West Orange, and John A. Wilson, Elizabeth, N. J.

Application November 22, 1934, Serial No. 754,340'

2 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in wear and decorative sheetings such as artificial leather,

wall paper, and'fioor coverings, and particularly to goods of that character formed from fibrous sheeting which has been split.

Heretofore, use has been made of paper or felt sheets having decorative effects due to penetrating colors or to surface decorations. However, the surface of such sheets has usually displayed certain characteristics indicative of the process or machine by which the paper or felt was prepared. The surface may have had a nap or it may have been ribbed, depending on whether it came into contact with a paper making web or blanket or wires. The application ofsurface or penetrative coatings to such sheets or any subsequent surface treatments on such sheets has involved considerable additional care in order to compensate for such surface factors to produce in the final product a relatively smooth surface. I

According to the present invention, a nonwoven fibrous sheet having a highly desirable surface may be prepared by splitting it into a plurality of laminations. This is accomplished with marked success by moving such a sheet relatively Particularly satisfactory results are obtainable by the use of splitting machines of the endless band type, similar to those which have been used for splitting hides but modified sufliciently to provide for the use of a large diameter roll of sheet goods to be split and a plurality of large diameter rolls for the reception of the separate lamina of the resultant split goods. In splitting hides, there has been no need for rolls of any considerable diameter, because of the limited extent of hides. However, in providing for more or less continuous splitting treatment of sheets in the production of such goods as wall paper and floor coverings, rolls of several feet in diameter and the goods are several hundred feet long, and the process should be substantially continuous. In splitting hides, it is common to use a machine in which the hide is advanced between rollers and forced thereby against the edge of a travelling endless belt knife moving transversely across the width of the advancing edge of the hide. The

position of the rollers and hide with respect to l the knife may be adjusted to determine the thickness of the sheet to be cut. Such machine is illustrated in Patents 857,682, issued June 25, 1907, and 1,058,962,,issued April 15, 1913. These pat- 5 ents are mentioned merely by way of example. No claim is made in this present improvement to the details of the machine described and illustrated, the essential features of which may follow closely the above described and patented appa- 10 ratus.

The above and additional features and advantages will be described and'claimed in the following specification and claims in connection with the diagrammatic illustration of the drawing 15 which will suillce to explain the .steps of the process and the general treatment carried out.

The processand product will be described in connection with the production of a plurality of sheets from a single sheet which may or may not have received a preparative sizing or conditioning treatment prior to being split.

The figures of the drawing may be from the following brief description:

Figure 1 represents in plan view a typical sheet of thick paper or felt showing in somewhat exaggerated relief the rough surface formed during manufacture thereof;

Figure 2 represents a sectional view taken on the line 22 of Figure 1; 30

Figure 3 is a view illustrating diagrammatically I the treatment given the original sheet including moistening, splitting, and winding of the split lamina;

Figure 4 is an enlarged view of the portion of the apparatus shown in Figure 3 at the splitting machine, and illustrating the relative position of the knife edge with respect to the advancing sheet. In this view also, as in Figure 2, the sheet is enlarged and shows in somewhat exaggerated manner the roughness or hill and dale effect common to the outer faces of paper and felt which has not been calendered or compacted; and

Figure 5 represents in edge view one lamina of the resultant product in which the split face is upward and the original upper outer surface of the sheet is on the downward side; and

Figure 6 represents a view similar to Figure 5, but illustrating the opposite side of the original sheet downward with the split face upward.

Referring in detail to the several figures of the drawing, I. indicates a porous fibrous nonwoven sheet prepared as hereinafter described. To insure the strength of the sheet and hold the fibers in place during splitting, it is desirable identified to have it include some sort of binding material.

This preliminary treatment may be termed a strengthening treatment. It serves not only to conditionthe sheet preparatory to splitting, but

also serves to so strengthen the sheet that after it has been split, the resultant thin'laminae will have suificient strength to be safely handled or used,-whereas without being so bonded together, the fibers of the thin product might tend to fall apart when used.

As a bonding or a sizing material for this preparative treatment, there may be used an emulsion such as water, oil and ammonia, or an oil, such as linseed oil used straight or cut back with naphtha, or thin solutions of either natural or synthetic resins, or a combination of any of these dissolved in their respective solvents or combination of solvents. Likewise there may be used a combination of oils and resins, either natural or synthetic, or solutions of glues, solutions of starch and its kindred products. Thus it will be understood that any type of penetrating bonding or sizing material, thus as a cementing agent, that will tend to hold together the fibers before, during and after the sheet has been split and to make it suitably strong for use will sufllce for this preparative treatment. Being applied before splitting the requisite degree of drying desirable before the splitting action is applied will depend on the particular type of sizing coat used.

If the sheet to be split has been treated with penetrating oil paints, it is desirable that the oil be given time to oxidize somewhat before the splitting action takes place. Otherwise the oil and any coloring media carried thereby may tend Another method of increasing the stiffness of I the sheet and making it easier to handle is to Drime it with a penetrating priming material such as an oil with a slight amount of resin in it, to moisten the sheet part or all the Way through with this oil and allow it to set or oxidize and this will bond the fibers slightly and so fix them than when the sheet is distorted they will not push out of place and leave a mark on the face of the sheet.

Another method of preparing the fibers so that the sheet may be sufiiciently strengthened is by incorporating the priming or sizing material with the fibers at the beater stage, as will be described in detail later.

In using the priming or sizing material, according to one procedure, and to obtain one type of product, it is desirable to limit the quantity so that the voids of the sheet are not filled but an amount is applied simply sufiicient to moisten the fibers and place them in a tacky and slightly stiffened condition. This can readily be done without decreasing the penetrating quality.

' However, a sheet may be produced which is substantially completely filled between the voids and this may be accomplished by providing an excess of priming or sizing material or by repeated treatment with limited amounts. The splitting treatment may be used on either type.

It is important that the sheet which has thus been primed or treated with a preparative solution to bond the fibers may be sufllciently open and porous and dry to absorb some water because the presence of water in the sheet promotes ease of splitting.

In the following, there will be described the treatment accorded the sheet subsequent to its preliminary strengthening treatment.

It is the common practice in handling sheets of paper or felt to receive such material in large rolls and to move these rolls as desired to locations convenient for the desired treatments. In Figure 3, there is illustrated diagrammatically one of such rolls formed of a sheet I mounted on an axle member 2. The web of the sheet may, for example, be the sheet illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, the rough appearance indicated in Figures 1 and 2 illustrating in magnified form the irregular surface characteristics of a sheet due to the particular method of manufacture. Pursuant to the details of the treatment indicated in Figure 3, the sheet I which may have received an initial strengthening treatment, as previously described, receives a further treatment by moistening with water and is shown as passing through a tank 3' and force it against the adjacent cutting edge of an endless travelling band or belt knife 6, as will be described. The mounting of the rollers 4 and 5 and the knife 8 forms no part of the present invention, and the construction may conform to the hereinbefore mentioned Patents 857,682 or 1,058,962. It is important, however, that the knife be so mounted as to be absolutely rigid withrespect to the rollers in any predetermined position so that the thickness cut may be determined by the operator of the machine as exactly as desired. The knife 6 may be mounted to travel in a horizontal position lengthwise of the rolls 4 and 5, splitting the sheet for the thicknesses determined. The upper portion or lamina I will pass above the knife blade and ultimately be accumulated on a roll mounted on a driven shaft I. The lower portion of the lamina or sheet I will pass beneath the knife and ultimately bewound on a similar driven shaft I.

In Figure 4 the parts represented are similar to those shown in Figure 3 but somewhat enlarged. I is the original sheet which preferably has been preliminarily treated with a strengthening agent and one surface of which is marked upper", as

in Figures 1 and 2. The corresponding lower surface is so marked. It will be observed that the adjacent and newly formed surfaces of the split portions are designated in Figure 4 as the split face", thus to identify the new and improved face of the sheet which has advantageous characteristics claimed as one improvement of this present invention. With reference to Figure 3, it will be noted that the split faces of the respective sheets I and I are wound so that the split face is on the exterior of the respective rolls so as to thus be conveniently positioned for demonstrating purposes or for further treatment.

It will be understood that the upper and lower surfaces of the sheet I, prior to treatment and in its original condition as received from the paper mill, is only so smooth as the characteristic production of that particular paper mill provides. There is presumably a certain amount of fuzzy irregularity. When such a surface receives the application of the coloring matter which is penetrated well down into thebody of the sheet or through it, the resultant sheet, when dried,

has a surface in which the slight roughness which was previously fuzzy has become somewhat set or solidified by the action of the paint or coloring matter. All of this applies equally to the under surface. In contrast to such formerly known surfaces, the characteristics of the split face of the lamina or relatively thinner sheets of Figures 1 and 1 are greatly improved. The surface of the splitface has been burnished and calendered by the cutting action and by the relative movement of the knife blade in the course of the cutting action. The surface has been compacted and as result of the materials of the decorating step, the combined cutting and calendering action is markedly different from the cutting of a. fibrous sheet which has not been so impregnated. The characteristics of the split face render the sheet suitable for a variety of uses without further coating treatments, even though further saturation is contemplated.

In the foregoing, the term upper and lower is used simply to identify those surfaces of the sheet to which the application of decorating coloring matter is normally applied.

In the production of the split sheets according to the treatment provided according to Fig. 3, there is preferably sufiicient time allotted between the splitting action and the winding of the sheets I and I in their respective rolls to permit drying of the excess moistureintroduced into the sheet in conditioning it for splitting.

It is characteristic of this type of splitting machine that the splitting can most readily be accomplished if the sheet is thoroughly wet. As pertains to the moistening of a sheet containing previously impregnated material, it is obvious that such a sheet will not absorb as much water as a plain untreated porous fibrous non-woven sheet. However, there is found to be some advantage in subjecting such sheet to the moistening action of water. The splitting knife appears to function to the best advantage in this way. It may be possible that the presence of paint or oil in the sheet serves in a measure somewhat similar to or sup- .plemental to the water in providing a suitable condition of the sheet for the knife splitting action. At any rate, it is apparent that the prepared sheet plus water is more satisfactorily split to provide a satisfactory product for the purpose of the present invention than is such a fibrous sheet which is dry. No claim is made 'to the splitting of moist or wet sheets broadly, because this is known to be the common practice in the splitting of hides. However, in the present invention in treating non-woven paper like or felt like fibrous non-woven sheets, somewhat different problems are met and different factors are involved. For example, it is important that the sheet contain some material in the nature of sizing which may have been included at the beater stage or introduced after the sheet was formed.

To further emphasize the importance of moistening the decorated sheet prior to splitting,

it may be said that the tank 3 and the illustration of the sheet passing through liquid in the tank is merely diagrammatic. The wetting action may be as involved or as simple as desired, or as quickly accomplished or as protracted as required to complete the sufficient moistening of the sheet. For example, instead of simply passing between a single pair of rollers in the tank for the purpose of squeezing out air and permitting the moistening medium, for instance water, to be absorbed into the sheet, this arrangement could be multiplied, as desired. or, as an example of how time for penetration may be insured, the wet sheet may be wound in a roll after being moistened and in between the moistening step and the splitting treatment. In Fig. 3, the sheet I is shown as broken away on either side of the tank 3, in order to emphasize and indicate that the passage of the sheet is not necessarily continuously from the axle 2 through the tank 3 to the knife 6.

It has been observed that the moistening of a sheet which has not been unduly toughened by the action of the preparative material, or absorbed paint or paint vehicle or paint pigment or other saturant may sufficiently be accomplished by being subjected to a-bath of steam. Plain untreated felt sheets or sheets which have been colored by dye, as contrasted to paint, are examples of such a sheet which may be sufliciently moistened by the action of steam.

After the split sheets I and I are thoroughly dry, they may be treated to further complete them for certain uses. For example, they may be rendered more waterproof, tough and resistant to floor covering usage if they are further impregnated with a saturant, such as taught in the Jackson Patents 1,729,832 or 1,729,833, or as follows. The saturant may be a solution containing a cellulose ester, or. containing resins, waxes and oils which completely fill the remaining voids betwwn the fibers. The addition of resins and waxes to the saturant gives added smoothness to the surface when the sheet is subjected to pressure, as hereinbefore described. It is contemplated that the saturant may be substantially transparent in order not to hide the decorative coloring.-

To thus saturate the sheets l and l if sufficiently dry,,they may be passed as a continuous web into a bath of the saturant or the rolls accumulated on the axles i may be removed, conveyed. to the saturating room, and there mounted on an axle, and the sheet passed through the desired saturating equipment, the details of which form no part of the present invention and for that reason are not described in detail.

Completed products having the new split face are illustrated diagrammatically in Figures 5 and 6. Figure 5 shows the lamina i having the split face upward and the original upper outer surface of the sheet on the downward side. Figure 6 shows the lamina l with the split face upwardly and the original lower surface on the downward side. These split faces are immediately suitable for numerous uses or may be decorated penetratingly or coated for use as decorative coverings for artificial leather.

Reference has been made briefly in the foregoing to the importance of having a sheet contain some material in the nature of sizing. For the treatment of a sheet to size it or prime it, any of the following formulae may be used to condition itfor splitting:

1. 60% China-wood oil. 15% linseed oil. 25% resin (either natural or synthetic). This batch should be cooked with or without the addition of a drier, after which it is cut back with-naphtha to desired consistency for ready penetration of the sheet to be treated.

2. 10% ester gum or other synthetic resin.

90% naphtha, with or without the addition of one of the generally accepted coal tar solvents, such as toluol or xylol.

3. 20% linseed oil, either raw, boiled or pro- Sept. 14,1937. Y

FIG. 1.

F/BROUS DECORATED MOISTE/VED JPL T DRIED "54mm TED I J. H. GAY El AL EETING AND PROCESS OF PRE Filed Dec. 22, 1934 PARING THE SAME HIWIIIIIH! m llllll 1mm llflllmllllllll ear/WM; sugar:

FIG 5b.

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 

